Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

To coin a phrase from Harry Potter no less. I think these examples of madness from the exteriors of a couple of the Oxford Colleges certainly fit the bill. The first one definitely has the look of a female house elf about her!  These faces never cease to amaze me! Arilx

I started at my local comprehensive school in September 1978. The film "Grease" was on release and as a treat for my 12th birthday, my then best friend Nicky and her parents took me to see it. I remember thoroughly enjoying it except the bit where the Pink Ladies try to pierce Sandy's ears. Any implied references to hanky panky or unplanned pregnancies completely went over my head! Afterwards I went down to the record department in WH Smith and spent a whopping 50p [daylight robbery when you think back to just how long ago this was] out of my saved pocket money on my first ever single "You're the one that I want" Here's the original...no doubt a tad cheesy but I still enjoy this catchy little song. And here's a slightly different version....it is just so in contrast that it made me chuckle. I can only listen to it for a short while though as this genre of music along with opera makes me reach for the off button. Each to their own! Ari

I am excellent at turning a molehill into a mountain at times...I'm better at spotting when I'm catastrophising but I am still usually halfway through a mental drama worthy of any soap opera story line before I realise! This guy is inspirational. Arilx

Seen recently. Sadly I do not possess the required long tresses so I am ineligible! Arilx

Last week my parents went on the Harry Potter studio tour....I wasn't jealous in the slightest....nah...can you hear my little feet stamping from here?!! I have been before so I know how amazing it is and it was fabulous being able to see the photos of the Hogwarts Express which wasn't there when I visited. Having started off by rereading the first book to refresh my memory before I wrote this  http://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/a-magical-invitation.html  I just carried on reading and before I knew it I had reread all of them. I finished the last one just before we went to Oxford earlier this month so you can imagine my excitement when I turned a corner in the city and came across this Later on we had a nose around Christchurch College. I gazed in awe at The Great Hall [Mr GBT however, was far more nonchalant for he's a Cambridge man..."the other place" as the Porter wryly told me!] Having recently watched the later HP films I commented a

In this case a rather voluminous pair made of reindeer skin! It seems the best thing to do is ignore what everybody else/ society thinks and follow your passions with a passion. I think do weird rather well actually! http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/be-a-weirdo-dont-hide-your-passions/ Arilx

Frankly, despite knowing diddly squat about the Pitt Rivers museum, I had low expectations [how I reached this conclusion despite not having done any research is anyone's guess really!] of what I was going to see. Memories of dusty items with yellowing labels stuck in cabinets like the museums of my childhood was just about it. Thankfully, I was wrong....very wrong. Yes, the collections are old but the displays are dynamic and new items are being added all the time. This one was a bit of a shock and not one I was quite prepared for on a dull Wednesday morning! Shock, revulsion, beautiful, fascinating...these were all the words that went through my head as I viewed the exhibits that the collectors had brought back from all over the world. Initially seeing what had been done to some of the remains of their enemies by different cultures it seemed barbaric but then I remembered that similar things have happened here and are still happening. Such acts may seem dark but the act

If you've ever had warts they are most mysterious things. I was "lucky" enough to pick up a verruca when I went swimming a few years ago which also gave me a couple of warts on my hands. I tried all sorts of  conventional remedies to get shot of them yet all to no avail. The perceived wisdom was that they would one day just disappear. As if by magic after three years they did just that...spooky. Mind you perhaps had I followed the Oxfordshire "cure" I saw recommended at the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford I would have been rid of the little blighters a lot earlier...apparently you should find yourself a big, black slug and rub its underside on the offending articles. Charmingly you then are supposed to impale it on a thorn and when it expires then they will be gone. In retrospect I think I'll leave that one. The museum is absolutely amazing and free. There's an incredible range of artifacts from all over the globe but the contents of certain cases reson

With trips to the Cowley Road in Oxford and the North Laines in Brighton under my belt this month I've been privileged to see a lot of fabulous artwork adorning houses and shops. I just love making these unexpected discoveries as I turn round corners. You never know what you might see next! Arilx For any fans of this type of thing the last three are in Brightonx

We have had a modern standard lamp on loan from my parents for several years now, but we recently decided to splash out on something a bit more traditional and in keeping with our living room. Now when  I say "splash out" that's probably a bit of an exaggeration if the truth be told. Honestly I did step over thresholds of shops I haven't been to in years in a bid to find something to my taste. I did....as ever the cheapest one I liked started at £700 and would have been too big for the space available. I always did have expensive taste and I really did try to buy something new. However, old habits die hard and I "failed" spectacularly at the first hurdle....except to my eyes I didn't. Instead I bought according to my own beliefs from the wonderful second hand market...helped a charity which supports local concerns with both the purchase of the stand and lamp, recycled and did not create a hole for a new one to be created. I am delighted and amazed at how

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I'm possible" Audrey Hepburn Arilx The photo was taken this week on a visit down to Brighton.

The church of SS Peter and Paul turned out to be a bit of a stunner really. My heart always sinks when I read that the Victorians have meddled with the interior in their obsessive drive to "improve" [call that sanitise] everything, but for once they left well alone. Treasures abound- whether it be the early 14th century brass of a priest which is one of the oldest in the country, the recumbent tomb of Sir William Fitzwaryn with his crossed legs showing he was a crusader [this is a theory only] with his wife Amica alongside him [they were the grandparents of Dick Whittington's wife] or crusader crosses etched into the column bases there is much to please the eye. However, it is the much more bonkers stuff that holds my attention. Bearing in mind these images would have been ordered and paid for by the church it makes all of the strangeness and at times downright bawdiness even more confusingly head scratching. Those who viewed them at the time would have understood them